Tool: Analogical Reasoning

One of SILC's central goals is to find powerful learning processes that will foster spatial knowledge and skills. Analogical processes promote spatial learning both in young children and in STEM disciplines. The ubiquity of analogy can be seen from its cropping up in projects under other research. The goals of our research on Maps & Diagrams, Early Education, and Geoscience Education are exploring how structural alignment can be used in learning. In Sketching, CogSketch relies on simulations of analogical processing for both modeling human spatial reasoning and generating feedback in worksheets. Our chief goal in this research is to discover and develop uses of analogical alignment and mapping that can most effectively promote spatial learning, especially STEM learning.

The goals of our research on Analogical Reasoning are:

To understand how structural alignment can be used to learn spatial categories.

To understand the nature of spatial comparison in children and adults.

To understand whether or not analogy is a uniquely human capability, via comparative studies of spatial cognition in apes and humans.